Being Alive New York Performances

Stephen Sondheim’s “Being Alive,” from *Company*, arrives at the end of the musical as Robert finally names his need for connection, accepting that intimacy carries risk as well as refuge. First heard on Broadway in 1970, the song has become part of New York’s theater vocabulary, often treated as a late-career self-portrait for the modern city dweller. At David Geffen Hall, the New York Philharmonic under Anthony Parnther joins guest vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant in a classical concert setting. Stripped of staging, its plainspoken construction reads with unusual force.